


RWBY: Chaos

by The_Dark_Knight_of_Remnant



Series: Capes in Remnant [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, RWBY
Genre: Batman Villains to be revealed, Before Vol 3, Internet Box Cameos, Kidnapping, Sequel, Vigilantism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-31 11:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12131271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Dark_Knight_of_Remnant/pseuds/The_Dark_Knight_of_Remnant
Summary: Roman Torchwick was not the only one who escaped from Altas's top prison. Team RWBY crosses paths with the Dark Knight of Atlas as they are forced to face off against the force of Chaos that has immigrated to Vale. Sequel to RWBY: Contract. Disclaimer: I own none of these properties or characters.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I started writing this around the time I finished posting RWBY: Contract. It's been almost a year since I've gone back to it. It's currently only about halfway done and I've had a lot of issues of figuring out how to fill in much of the sceond half to make my thoughts for it happen. Also, I got caught up with RWBY: The Phantom Pain (which I plan on continuing and do know how I'm gonna do it. Just need to do it.).
> 
> I thought I might as well not waste anymore time and put up what I have and hopefully the ideas will flow again.
> 
> This takes place about a month after RWBY: Contract. It is still before RWBY Volume 3. The girls are still at Beacon. Yes, it is quite out of date.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

Altas. The Iceberg Lounge.

* * *

 

Oswald Cobblepot (AKA The Penguin) crashed through the door to his back room, trying to get away. Two of his henchmen came running to his aid.

"What's the matter, boss?" one of them asked.

"The Bat's here!" he told them. They immediately froze in fear, not sure what to do. "Well, don't just stand there! Get out there and stop him!"

They came back to their senses and followed their orders. They drew their guns and ran past their boss to confront their enemy. Penguin knew they didn't stand a chance, but they could at least buy him some time.

He ran into his office and retrieved one of his trick umbrellas. Upon hearing a loud thud, he walked back out of his office to see his two goons laying unconscious on the ground.

He heard from outside the room, "It's over, Cobblepot."

He looked to the doorway as a small canister was tossed into the room. It rolled to the middle of the floor before releasing a thick cloud of smoke. Penguin pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to cover his nose and mouth from the smoke.

"It isn't over as long as I say isn't!" he yelled as he instinctively began firing a barrage of bullets from his umbrella into the smoke. He exhausted all of his ammunition and dropped his umbrella gun. He drew a small sidearm from inside his coat and surveyed the dark cloud. "Where are you, you bastard?"

As soon as he asked, a tall, musclebound figure towered over him. He was disarmed and lifted into the air by his throat before his synapses could even fire.  
"Now, let's talk," the caped vigilante suggested menacingly.

Ever defiant, Oswald said back, "I've got nothing to fear you for, Batman! I've done nothing wrong!"

Batman raised half of a dismantled assault rifle in his other hand. "These are contraband weapons. That's illegal gun trafficking already. Should we take a look around and see what else we can find?"

Having his bluff called, the short arms dealer dropped his tough guy act. "No no no! That's- that's completely unnecessary. I can be reasonable. J-just tell me what you want."

The dark knight pulled Cobblepot in closer, mere inches away from his scowl. "Tell me where he went," he demanded.

"I don't know," he answered. The next thing he knew, he was being hurled through the door into his office. He crashed into his desk and fell to the ground. He attempted to get back up, but forcefully had his skull slammed back to the ground and was held down.

"Where is he?!" Batman shouted.

"He never said!" Oswald explained. "He just bought a few guns and explosives off me and left! Small time stuff. I didn't ask. He didn't tell."

Batman slammed his face into the floor again. "That's not good enough!"

"Wait! Wait! I had a couple of guys follow him. They last saw him boarding an airship to Vale."

"Why?!"

"Who knows with that one? Nothing he does ever makes any sense. To get away from you, I'd guess."

"Thank you." Batman raised Cobblepot back to his feet and clamped a pair of handcuffs to wrists. He led him over to the wall, lifted him up, and hung him by his cuffs from one of the tusks on a large Boarbatusk mount on his wall. "Now wait here for the police to arrive."

He started to make his way out of the building when Penguin called out, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?! I told what you wanted!"

The caped crusader turned back. "And you were very helpful. You're still doing time for those guns, though."

With that, he turned and exited the room. Once he was a sufficient distance away from the small mob boss, he activated his comm. "Alfred, I'm done here. Prep the Batwing. I know where he's going."

* * *

Vale. Hours later.

* * *

The thief was on the run. He'd barreled over some woman and stolen her purse. The reward wasn't very high, but there's not going to be a huge investigation looking for him. And with legs like his, he could do this all night and never get caught. That is, unless someone decides to rudely get in his way.

Blake was walking down the street when she saw the crime. The purse snatcher was running towards her, pushing people out of his way. As he neared her, she dropped a Shadow clone and lunged at him. She kicked his feet out from under him and pushed him to the ground.

He acted fast and swung the stolen purse at her. He was just shy of hitting her. He tried it again, but this time she caught the strap to the handbag. Before he could react, the huntress kicked him across his face and pulled the strap from his grasp. While he laid there holding his jaw, Blake turned to go return the purse to its owner.

The woman attempted to run over in her heels and was already short on breath by the time she got to the girl. "Thank you so much," she said.

Blake handed the purse back over to her. "It's my pleasure."

Her ears then tuned in to hear footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw the thief escaping.  _You're not going to get away that easily_ , she thought as she turned and sprinted after him, leaving the other woman in the dust.

She chased him down the sidewalk for a block or two before he darted around a street corner. She followed him, not expecting him to be waiting right around the corner. When she came around he threw an elbow and hit her in the face. Blake was knocked to the ground from the surprise attack.

The thief took advantage of this and turned around and ran into the closest alleyway. Blake tried to get back up and re-engage her pursuit, but her head wouldn't stop spinning.  _That was dirty_. She took a moment to recover and chased back after him.  _You just made this personal_.

She entered the alley and stopped to listen for some sign of where he went. She could hear him. His breathing was heavy. Suddenly, his breathing cut off sharply. She heard a loud cry of fear.  _Oh, no. What now?_ She drew Gambol Shroud and bolted to the source of the scream. She rounded a corner and what she saw shocked and confused her.

The thief was dangling upside down about six feet above the ground. He was hanging by a cable wrapped around his ankle and attached to a fire escape above him. Blake reached out to check his pulse. He was alive, but unconscious. The entire left side of his face was starting to bruise up. She quickly pulled out her scroll and called the local police.

After making the call, she looked at her scroll's screen and realized the time. At half past 2:00 AM, Blake ran to the nearest transit station and hopped on an airship back to Beacon.

* * *

Blake made it to her door just before 3:30. She was able to sneak into her hall without being caught by any staff. That was fairly easy for her. This was the hard part: sneaking in without waking her teammates.

She quietly opened the door and peered inside, letting her Faunus night vision illuminate the room for her. As she panned her head around, she spotted Yang sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, scowling right back at her. Blake backed into the hall and slowly closed the door again. She stood there and braced herself for the talk she was about to get.

When she opened the door again to walk in and accept her fate, Yang was stood right in the doorway.

"Outside. We have to talk and you are not waking my sister up this late at night," she said as she stepped out of the room and into the hall. She closed the door behind her and started. "So do you mind telling me just what the hell you were doing until three in the morning?"

"I got caught up with something," Blake vaguely explained.

"With what?" Yang demanded to know. "What was so important? Ever since we took on Deathstroke, you're out later and later every night and you're always tired in the day. It's just like when you were obsessed with going after Torchwick." She paused as she came to a realization.  _Torchwick's outta jail now._  "You're not going down that path again, are you?"

"No. No no no," the dark haired girl denied. "It's not that. I swear, this has nothing to do with him or the White Fang."

"Then what is it?"

Were Blake talking with anyone else, she would have brushed them off and just bottled up her emotions. But she felt a sort of connection with Yang. She was the only person that she ever let in and talked to about things. She was the person who helped her with her obsession with Torchwick. She was the one who stood by her against Deathstroke.

Blake turned away from her partner as she started to explain herself. "It's just… seeing Slade again made me think of all the bad things I've done. All the things I got away with as a child. And I started thinking about all of the bad things I've seen others do over the past few years. And I feel like there's something I should be doing to try and stop them."

"Blake, we talked about this."

"I know, Yang. And I know that Torchwick and the White Fang are too much for me to handle by myself. But there are things that I can stop. Like tonight, a man stole a woman's purse. I was there to stop him and I did. And I felt really good about it. I haven't been stopping bank heists or catching killers or anything huge like that. I know I'm not cut out for that kind of stuff right now. But that woman's night was changed because of me. And that's enough to make me keep going out every night."

"So that's what you've been doing at night?" the blonde asked her.

"Yang, we're Huntresses. We're supposed to help people. And that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm just doing it in ways other than fighting monsters."

Yang sighed and tried to reason with her. "Listen, Blake. I understand where you're coming from. I've indulged in crime fighting before, too. But we've got a team now. We've got responsibilities: as students and teammates. And we can't afford to go out and pick fights with random criminals. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying you've got too much to lose to do this kind of thing alone every night."

Blake hung her head in understanding. But then an idea popped into her head. "What if I didn't do it alone?"

Yang prayed she wasn't saying what she thought she was saying. "What are you talking about?"

"What if you came with me?"

She was saying exactly what she thought she was saying.

"We go out together; work as a team. If we can take on a world renowned assassin together, imagine what other good we could do against common street thugs."

"Blake, first of all, you're freaking me out a little with this whole inviting-another-person-to-do-something-with-you thing. Second of all, what's wrong with you? I just said you can't do this anymore, and now you're asking me to join you next time? Why am I even saying 'next time?'"

"Look, Yang. I'm not going to stop. I'll agree not to go out as late or as often, but I'm not going to stop. If you're worried about me being in danger out there, then back me up and keep me out of it."

Yang would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she really did want to do it. She loved the thrill of fighting. One of her favorite memories was busting up Junior's club. The conversation she had been having with Blake was one she'd had with herself many times.

But as much as she didn't want to get sucked back into kicking criminal ass again, Blake had a point. She couldn't just tell her how to spend her evenings and she had no way of enforcing herself from Beacon. But if she were with her on the streets, she could keep her out of too much trouble and control her actions a bit more, all while having a little fun herself.

"One time," Yang agreed. "We'll do this one time. On a weekend. And Ruby doesn't find out."

Blake smiled bigger than she'd ever done before, which was about as much as an average person's normal smile. "Thank you, Yang."

At that moment, the door behind them opened. Standing in the doorway was a very groggy and annoyed looking Lie Ren. "Would you mind having this conversation both quieter and somewhere else? We're not all heavy sleepers here."

* * *

The Batwing set down on the landing platform in the cave. The cockpit opened and Batman jumped out. He spoke into his comm, "Alfred, I made it to the cave."

His butler returned, "What took you so long to get there?"

"I was scouting out the city. The crime rate is far lower here than in Atlas, but there is still work I can do while I'm here."

"Isn't there always. Now, I must ask, sir. How long have you had a backup cave in Vale?"

"I have one in each of the kingdoms. I set them up a while back over a long set of public visits. They're precautions in case I need to do work outside of Atlas."

"I would normally question the reasoning behind multiple bases spread so far apart, but I suppose today proves their necessity. Although I must ask, how do you manage to scout out and construct these multiple bases without your resources in Atlas or anyone cluing in on what it is you're really up to?"

Batman removed his cowl. "Come on, Alfred. I'm Bruce Wayne. With a fortune like mine, I could get away with murder if I wanted to."

"Yes, quite right, Master Bruce. Let us just pray that it never has to come down to that."

Bruce called commands to the Batcomputer as he neared it, "Computer, on. Authorization: Batman."

The multiple scanners around the computer activated and scanned him up and down, taking in every tiny detail to make sure it was him. Then a synthetic female voice responded, "Identification confirmed. Welcome back."

Bruce sat down at the computer station and set his cowl next to him on the desk. "Computer, get me the surveillance footage from the last two days for all international transit stations in Vale."

A second later, it responded, "Footage acquired."

"Scan through the footage for inmate number 801."

As the computer searched in the background, Bruce did his own searching through the police department's database.  _It doesn't take long for him to kill. I need to make sure he hasn't started yet._  He went through the list of reported crimes. Luckily, there were none of civilians deaths.

Bruce stopped scrolling when he found something suspicious. The report read, 'Several White Fang members found dead in compound filled with illegal weapons and Dust. Victims were poisoned and found with pale skin and permanent smiles.' He leaped up from his chair as he kept reading.

"Scan complete. Subject found in northeast Vale."

Batman pulled up the filtered out footage. He saw the man in question. He was wearing a simple coat and a wide brimmed hat to try and hide his identity. But just under that brim, he could make out his unmistakable grin.

Bruce spoke back into his comm, "Alfred, I've found him. He set down in the commercial district. He's here in Vale."

* * *

Roman Torchwick barged into the meeting room. "Cinder, we've gotta talk!"

Cinder Fall and her two underlings, Emerald and Mercury, were already there. They were stood around a hologram table with a projected map showing all of their storage facilities and White Fang bases in and around Vale. In the corner of the room was their representative of the White Fang, Adam Taurus. They were all there to discuss recent events.

"And what is it you would like to discuss, Roman?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe we could talk about the fact that one of our warehouses was raided and confiscated by the police!"

"You're a little late," Mercury told him. "We've already started."

Adam stepped up to the rest of the group. "An entire squad of White Fang troops was lost as well." He turned to Cinder. "This is unacceptable. I want to know who did this."

Roman chimed back in, "That last part we can agree on."

Emerald asked her superior, "Who do you think it was? The huntresses again?"

"No," Cinder replied. "While they have been a persistent thorn in our sides, they have been consistent in sparing life. And no huntress would dare use chemical warfare in this manner."

"So what?" Torchwick asked. "You think some street gang decided to get into the chemical weapons business, hit our guys, and steal some of our stashed guns and Dust supplies? Oh, did I mention our things were stolen? Cause I'm personally a little pissed about that part."

Adam slammed his fist on the table. "The weapons aren't important right now!"

"Like hell, they aren't," Roman argued. "After the long nights of work I put in for those supplies, I want them reclaimed and whoever stole them strung up by their innards."

"You seem to forget that Faunus lives were lost!" the Faunus shouted. "Twelve of my brothers were killed!"

"And twelve of your brothers will probably be killed next week. You guys are trying to start a war afterall. People die in war. That's what happens. But for our plans to come to fruition, we need guns and Dust. And we can't just let people steal those from us."

Adam growled at the master thief and instinctively reached for his blade.

"Enough," Cinder finally spoke up. "You both want the same thing. And to answer your earlier question, Roman, no. It was not some street gang with a chemical weapon. It was a single man."

Torchwick gave her a face of disbelief. "One guy? You're telling me that one guy did this? What makes you think that?"

"The thing about this particular toxin is its effects on the body," she explained. "As it kills the victim, the color drains from their face and they begin to laugh uncontrollably, leaving them with a permanent grin. All of the victims of the attack exemplify these same symptoms. And there's only one man in Remnant with this MO: a psychotic criminal from Atlas who recently broke out of prison."

Both Mercury and Emerald looked to the man in the bowler hat.

"Hey, don't look at me," he said. "You all were the brains behind that operation. I was just the guy you came to break out. If you wanna blame someone, blame that assassin you hired."

Adam directed attention back to the matter at hand. "So who is this person and where can we find him?"

"Nobody knows who he truly is. His past is a mystery to the world. He is only known by one name: The Joker."

There was a pause over the group of criminals. Roman pulled out a cigar and lit it as he muttered, "This town just keeps getting weirder and weirder."


	2. Chapter 2

Vale. Friday night.

* * *

The back door to the Dust shop  _From Dust Till Dawn_  swung open and four members of the Red Face gang came running out with a bag of cash. The small business was being robbed again. It wasn't a huge take, but it was enough to satisfy the street thugs.

Once they'd gotten far enough, they all stopped to count up their reward and high five each other.

"Hey, boys!" a voice called out from down the alley. Yang Xiao Long walked into their view. "Whatcha got there?"

The delinquents were immediately entranced by the sway in her walk along with her exposed legs and midriff. "I've got anything you want, baby!" one of them called out to her. Their "leader" immediately punched him in the arm. "Hey! What the hell, Andy?"

The leader of the gang ignored him and asked the blonde girl, "What's it to ya'?"

From behind them, they heard another voice. "That money doesn't belong to you." They turned to see Blake Belladonna walking up. She paced around them until she was at her partner's side. "We'd really like to see it returned."

The gangsters were realizing their situation. They started to pull out their bats, knives, and other weapons.

"You ladies must not know who you're dealin' with," the head gangster threatened them. "I suggest you two turn your pretty little asses around and forget you ever saw any of us."

"So does that mean you won't be turning yourselves in quietly?" the blonde brawler quizzically asked.

"Bitch, beat it or I will f*** you up!"

The two girls looked to each other and smiled. Yang turned back to the thugs and laughed. "Well, I was gonna take it easy on you guys. But after hearing that," she punched into her hand, "now we're gonna have some real fun."

* * *

It was a Friday night and Ruby and Weiss had nothing to do. The other two were out for the evening and they just sitting quietly on opposite sides of the room. Weiss was getting started on the next week's readings to be one step ahead. Ruby was lying on her bed playing with a small rubber ball and bouncing it off the ceiling over and over.

She was bored out of her mind. Her sister was usually the one with all of the activity ideas and she was gone. Zwei was out cold for the night already. And Weiss was… Weiss. For the entire time Ruby was lying there playing with her ball, she was trying to come up with the best approach to asking Weiss to do something.

Turns out, the Ice Queen beat her to it. "So would you like to go out and do something tonight?"

"Oh my god, yes!" the hooded girl shouted in joy. "I've been soooooo bored!"

"I could tell," Weiss said, closing her textbook and getting up to get her things. "And I don't think I could've withstood another minute of you sighing to yourself and bouncing that ball like that."

Ruby hopped down from her bunk. "So whaddaya wanna do?"

"Well, there's this orchestral symphony that I've been wanting to go to tonight," the heiress suggested.

The younger girl stuck her tongue out and made a spitting noise to voice her disapproval.

Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby's childishness. "Or we could go see that new  _Surgeons in Space_  movie."

"Oh! I've wanted to see that movie so bad! The effects look so awesome!"

"Alright, calm down. Get your things and let's go. It's already late so there probably won't be too many showings left tonight."

Ruby put on her boots and followed her teammate out the door, throwing her arms into the air with joy.

* * *

Blake followed Yang up the fire escape and onto the roof, listening to her going on about the fight they'd just won. The blonde girl was still kind of against the idea of fighting crime at the beginning of the night, but it didn't take long at all for her to come around. And seeing Yang happy made Blake happy. She was smiling more than she had in awhile.

They both sat at the edge of the apartment building they had climbed up to catch their breath for a moment.

Yang sighed. "God, I've missed this."

"It didn't take long for you to change your stance on the matter," Blake noted.

"What can I say?" Yang shrugged. "I love being on the kicking side of an ass-kicking."

"So now do you approve of what I've been doing?" Blake asked her.

"Approve of you doing this every night alone? No," she answered. " Approve of you doing this sometimes with my help? I'm getting there."

"Would it mean anything to you if I told you I've been wanting to take on the Red Faces for a while, but waited for you to help me before trying?"

"Maybe a little."

"I'm glad you came with me, Yang," Blake said.

Yang turned to her partner and smiled. "I'm glad you invited me along. And that you're letting me in. The lone-wolf act was getting old. It's good to see you allying yourself with the rest of humanity."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Okay, Professor Ozpin. Am I going to get another lecture about it now?"

Yang giggled. "Oh sorry. I don't wanna take someone else's schtick."

Blake feigned irritation. "Seriously, though. Does he ever have those kinds of talks with any of you guys?"

"I don't think so. Goodwitch has gotten on me a couple times for various things. And Oobleck is always on about something. But I've never been called in for a- Oh wait! Nevermind. He did question me about Deathstroke."

Blake felt that wound creak open a little bit. Despite her best efforts to conceal it, her partner noticed that it bothered her.

"Sorry I brought that up. I forgot how much more personal that was for you than the rest of us."

"It's fine." she responded in her usual, closed up fashion.

Yang noticed that, too. "Look, Blake, you don't have to do that with me. I can understand it with Ozpin or Sun or JNPR. I can even understand it if you don't wanna spill everything to Ruby and Weiss. But you can talk to me about this kind of stuff. You don't have to keep it bottled inside. It's not good for you."

Blake instinctively looked away and avoided eye contact. But then she thought about what Yang said. After a moment she turned back to her partner and gave her a thankful smile.

Yang laughed a bit. "I guess you still got your Ozpin lecture for the night."

Blake chuckled. "You do it better than he does. Thanks, Yang."

"I do what I can," she said back. "So… anything you need to get out of your system?"

Blake opened her mouth to speak when her Faunus ears picked up a disturbances. From down in the streets below, she heard the signs of a mugging: "You look like a couple o' ladies who've got change to spare. What say you hand over your bags and jewelry so me and my boy here don't have to start taking things ourselves."

Blake looked to Yang. "Did you-"

"Yep."

"Raincheck on our talk?"

"I'll hold you to it."

The two huntresses got to their feet, drew their weapons, and dropped down to the streets below.

* * *

The two followed the sound of the disturbance into an alley near the closest movie theatre. They rounded the corner and were greeted with the sight of two muggers being held sideways six feet off the ground with the tops of their heads touching. They were encased in ice from their shoulders down and attached to the opposite facing walls of the alley.

"I'm sorry. What?" Yang exclaimed.

"Blake? Yang?" The two looked past the shivering criminals to see Ruby and Weiss standing there.

"Oh. Hey guys," Yang greeted them. Blake gave them a wave.

"What're you guys doing here?" Her younger sister asked them.

"Y'know. Just strollin' around," Yang explained.

"Looked more like sprinting to me," Weiss pointed out. "For a night on the town, you two sure are armed to the teeth." Blake and Yang hadn't even noticed they still had their weapons drawn and ready.

"You're telling us?" Blake motioned to the two iced muggers.

Weiss pointed up at them. "That was an act of self defense. We were just trying to go see a movie when these degenerates attacked us."

"Hey! Who you callin' degen-" one of the thugs said before getting a sheet of Ice Dust frozen over his mouth.

"Hush you," Weiss said to him before turning back to her teammates. "So what were you two doing?"

Yang quickly made up an alibi. "We were just having a night on the town and about to go get dinner when we heard the sounds of trouble. So, like the brave huntresses we are, we burst into action only to find that the troublemakers were the real ones in trouble." It was a good enough story for the Ice Queen to buy it.

"Where were you going to eat?" Ruby asked curiously.

Blake answered with the first place that came to mind. " _A Simple Wok._ "

Ruby suddenly gasped. "Guys, I got the greatest idea. What if we combine our plans and have a team night? We go eat at  _Simple Wok_  as a team. And then we go see  _Surgeons in Space_  as a team. It'll be awesome."

Blake and Yang locked eyes for a moment before the latter answered for the both of them. "Sounds great, sis. We'd love to."

Blake, still with her mind focused on Vale's criminals, tried to stop her partner. But Yang just turned to her and gave her a look saying:  _I told you, Ruby doesn't learn about us fighting crime._

"Sounds like fun.  _Right_ , Blake?"

Blake accepted defeat. "Yeah. Sounds like fun."

"Then let's not waste a second more," Ruby directed them. "We haven't a moment to spare. Team RWBY, onwards to noodles!" She darted ahead of them in excitement, then suddenly stopped and turned to her teammates. "I have no idea how to get to this place."

Yang couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry, Rubes. I'll lead the way."

* * *

As they were walking to their destination, Blake's cat ears suddenly picked something up. She stopped in her tracks to listen in more closely. Her friends noticed and turned to see what was up.

"Blake? Why are you stopping?" Ruby asked her. "I told we haven't a moment to-"

Blake raised her finger to silence her for a moment. She listened and heard, "Get off of me! Let me go!" She looked in the direction of the disturbance.

"Blake," Yang prodded her, "what's wrong?"

Blake looked her in the eyes and she immediately knew what was the matter. She subtly shook her head 'no,' pleading her with her eyes not to do this now.  _Not with Ruby here_. Blake's eyes looked down apologetically, and she turned and ran across the street towards the source of the sounds.

"Blake!" Yang shouted as she bolted after her.  _The cat may be out of the bag, (Haha. Good one, Yang.) but I'll be damned if I let her go off alone again._

Ruby and Weiss naturally followed, neither knowing the context of Blake running off like that. The three caught up to the her as she ran down an alleyway.

"Blake. Yang," Weiss demanded. " What is going on?"

"I'll explain later," Blake promised, not slowing down at all for her teammates.

"Yeah, we're  _all_ going to have to have a talk after this," Yang said.

_Well_ , Blake thought to herself,  _I'm in trouble_.

* * *

"Where is he, Machin?!"

"Get off of me! Let me go!" shouted Lonnie Machin (AKA Anarky) as he was held up by his collar against the alley wall.

Batman leaned in close. "Where is Joker? All leads led me to you. Tell me where he is."

Anarky laughed. "Your detective skills are impressive, dark knight. He was right when he said you were good at what you do. But what makes you think I'm just going to give up his location to you? There's still so much we have to do first."

"What're you planning with him?"

"We're going to send a message," Lonnie started to preach. "We're going to set Vale free. The Council. The military. The huntsman academy. I'm going to relieve this kingdom's people of these overbearing forces. The Joker is just the means to that end."

"You think you can control him? You can't! You aren't! He's controlling you!"

"You don't get it, Batman. No one else understands. No one else can see that the bureaucracy is cheating them. They're all indoctrinated. But not him. He escaped. He broke Atlas's control over him. He sees the things I see. And together, we'll show the people of Vale that there's a better way of living. We'll bring down the symbols of the government's control and set the people free to live their lives whichever way they wish."

"Listen to me. The Joker doesn't care about the kingdom's political state. He doesn't care about your crusade. He exists only to bring chaos."

"That's the idea. For chaos is the way to achieve true, unrestrained freedom. That's what I'm here to bring. I'm going to set the common people free to live their lives whichever way they wish. No overlords to decide their fates. No made up laws to keep them in line with the plans of those in charge. Vale will embrace total anarchy!"

"People will die, Lonnie!" The dark knight shouted. "Lives will be lost if the Joker is not stopped!"

Anarky looked into his eyes. "That is regrettable and I will carry that for the rest of my life. But sometimes, sacrifices must be made in the name of revolution."

Batman stared back. "Well you won't have to worry about carrying that burden, because I'm not going to give you the chance."

"Put him down!" they suddenly heard from their right. Batman turned to see four young girls confronting him, all armed to the teeth.

"Looks like the indoctrinated child-warriors have arrived," Machin remarked. "I think I'll let you take this one, dark knight." As he said those words, he pulled out the stun gun he kept in his pocket.

Bruce realized what he was doing fast enough to block his initial attack, knocking his arm back. Anarky dropped the stun gun into his other hand and thrust it just under the vigilante's ribcage. Batman groaned in pain as his muscles began to contract, but was able to push through enough to deliver a headbutt to the bridge of his nose.

As Anarky recoiled in pain, he dropped his weapon and clutched his bleeding nose. Batman released his grip and dropped him to the ground as he took a second to recover. He turned to the sound of a gun cocking before he was blasted off of his feet.

* * *

The caped crusader was launched down the alley with a single shot. Yang expelled the empty shell from her gauntlet and readied the next shot. She looked to the boy he was attacking, unaware of the kind of person Lonnie Machin is. "Now's your chance, guy. We'll take it from here."

Anarky assumed the role of the victim of a random attack. "Thank you so very much," he acted as ran in down the alley in the direction away from the team. "It's a good thing you huntresses showed up."  _Just enough innocent praise to keep them from questioning the situation._  He left them behind to clean up his mess.

Batman picked himself up off the ground in time to see his best lead to the Joker's location escaping. He started to give chase until several shots were fired at his feet from behind him.

"Those were warning shots!" Blake shouted. "You're not going to just get away with assaulting that kid!"

"If you had any idea who he is or what you're getting in the middle of," the dark knight argued back, "you'd know enough not to get in my way."

Ruby retorted with: "Well, if you had any idea who  _we_  are or what  _you're_  in the middle of now, then you'd know enough not to… do whatever it is you were doing… jerk."

The Ice Queen rolled her eyes. "Nice comeback."

"Shut up, Weiss."

_I don't have time for this._  In the blink of an eye, Batman pulled two batarangs from his belt, turned, and threw them at the team of huntresses. The batarangs stuck into the ground approximately two feet in front of the girls. They took a second to question the vigilante's aim until the bat-shaped weapons suddenly glowed red with Fire Dust.

Blake noticed this and, a fraction of a second before they exploded, used her semblance to lunge backwards and leave a shadow clone to take the blast in her place. She landed on her feet and saw that the rest of her team reacted too late and were thrown to the ground. She looked up to see the caped crusader pulling a grapnel gun from his belt and aiming up to the rooftops above.

Blake darted forward as he fired his grapnel upwards. It caught the ledge above and began to pull him up. He was halfway up the building when the Faunus girl rushed into the air, severed his line with her sword, and brought him back down to the ground.

Batman got up first, only to find that the rest of her team had recovered. Before he could react, Yang was on him and landed an explosive punch square in his chest, sending him backwards again. He was recovering when she dropped down to a knee. The dark knight looked up to see Ruby behind her taking aim with Crescent Rose. He rolled out of the way of her first shot and threw another batarang at her. The batarang flew right at the hooded girl, but was suddenly blocked by a large shielding glyph that had suddenly been conjured up.

Weiss dropped the glyph and began charging up her next attack. Yang used her gauntlets to blast herself back to her other teammates while Blake leaped up and grabbed onto a fire escape above. Based on the blue glyphs being conjured up, Bruce knew what was coming, but had no way of avoiding it. He crouched down and held his cape up in front of himself to try and take the blast just before Weiss released a huge wave of frozen Dust, coating everything in front of her in a sheet of ice and a cloud of cold fog.

The opportunity was too good. Yang couldn't pass it up. "That's what I call kicking some ice."

"Really?" Weiss said. "Ice puns?"

"How could I not?" She had another one in the chamber. "Just chill out, Weiss."

"Wow," Ruby added. "Normally I like your puns, sis. But even I have to admit that was pretty bad."

She wasn't done. "Wow. Talk about giving' me the cold shoulder, guys."

"Oh god! No more!" Weiss and Ruby collectively pleaded.

The fog cleared to reveal their opponent's current status. Batman's cape had shielded most of his body from the attack, but he was still restrained by the ice. With his hand at his belt, he pulled out another batarang and activated the Fire Dust infused with it. The Dust burned hot enough to immediately start melting the ice, but not too hot for his gloves and suit to withstand. He then proceeded to jab the edge of the batarang into the ground and trace out a circle of Fire Dust around him to melt the immediate area around him. With his icy restraints melted, he rose to his full height… and was immediately thrown back by a shot from Crescent Rose.

"Ice shot, sis," Yang continued to pun away, evoking a groan from her teammates.

The sheer force behind the round sent him flying and he tumbled into a small parking lot connected to the alley in which their encounter had been taking place. The girls jogged over to the alley's entrance to the small lot. Blake jumped down from the fire escape she had perched herself on to escape the ice wave and joined her teammates.

Batman was slower to get up this time. The bullet hit him in the center of his chest, where his armor is strongest.  _I wear a giant target there for a reason_. It didn't pierce his suit, but it still hurt like getting hit by a car.  _Now, what have we learned?_

He went through his observations of his opponents in his mind. Just based on what he'd seen so far, he was already getting an idea of each girl's style and tactics.  _The blonde is a brawler packing a lot of force behind each punch. The brunette is far faster in both speed and reflexes. The girl in white and the one in the hood are primarily range based. One uses Dust while the other resorts to her weapon, a weapon that could undoubtedly be devastating at closer range but is too large to be very fast. Their best advantage is their coordination with each other. They know exactly what to do and exactly when to do it. I'm impressed. I'll have to accommodate for that._

Bruce assessed each analysis and developed a countering tactic for each one. He rose to his feet and assumed a ready stance.  _The blonde will attack first._  
As predicted, Yang acted first. "Looks like someone hasn't quite cooled down yet. How 'bout we bring the heat instead?" She cocked Ember Celica and charged forward.

She reared her fist back and swung at the vigilante's head, but she never made contact. He had quickly leaned away from the punch and reached out to grab her extended arm. Holding her arm, he kicked her legs out from under her and forced her down to the ground.  _And now the one in black_.

Blake was close behind her partner and rushed the dark knight when he brought Yang down. He turned with a high kick, but she used her semblance to fall back and go in for a second attempt. Batman sidestepped her subsequent strike and allowed her momentum to carry her past him. He then pulled a bola from his belt and threw it at her. The bola wrapped itself around her and restrained her arms to her midsection.  _And now the one in the hood will take a few shots._

"Weiss!" Ruby turned to her partner. "Lemme at him."

Weiss conjured a black Acceleration glyph in front of her leader. Ruby aimed Crescent Rose behind her and fired. The recoil sent her flying through the glyph. The glyph amplified her velocity and launched her at her target.

Bruce's eyes widened for a moment as he dropped flat to the floor as the scythe wielder careened over his head.  _Didn't quite expect that._  He jumped back up to his feet and realized his current position. The girls weren't so much as attacking as they were tactically positioning themselves. Weiss remained in her original position in front of him. Ruby had sailed over and landed behind him. Yang had picked herself back up and was circling around to his left, and Blake had freed herself from her restraints and circled around to his right.

Their leader called the order. "Team RWBY, kick his butt!"

They all charged the Bat at the same time. Just as they neared him, he dropped a handful of smoke pellets at his feet. They exploded and shrouded him in smoke. Yang proceeded to viciously blast into the cloud with her gauntlets.

A shot exploded over Blake's shoulder. "Yang, stop firing! You're shooting at me!"

The brawler ceased fire. "Where'd he-"

"Weiss!" Ruby called.

"Already on it." Weiss charged up her next move, swung her blade, and sent a Dust-charged force through the cloud that effectively cut through and dispersed the smoke.

The smoke cleared to reveal Batman leaping several feet into the air in the middle of the girls. In air, he threw out four Fire-charged batarangs. Each one found its mark and hit the huntresses directly. They were thrown to the ground as he landed.

Thanks to her Semblance, that amount of force was enough to reenergize Yang. She was quick to return to her feet and charge the dark knight again. He was ready though. He leaped backwards, away from her swing, and threw another batarang at her. It stuck itself into her gauntlet and then glowed blue. The batarang exploded outward and completely encased Yang in ice.

Bruce looked upon the girl frozen in a block of ice, pulled a batarang from his belt, and stalked toward her. He raised the bladed weapon over her.  _She won't be able to breathe in there_. He activated the batarang's Fire-Dust charge, jabbed the tip into the ice, and carved a circle around the blonde girl's head. The ice in that area instantly started melting.  _Her head will be freed enough to get air in twenty seconds. Her friends should be back on their feet in ten. I will be gone in five._

He deactivated the batarang and put it back in its compartment on his belt, pulled his secondary grapnel gun from its holster to replace the one Blake had severed, and fired its claw to the rooftop above. The moment before he shot upwards, Bruce looked around to the temporarily incapacitated girls around him.  _A waste of my time._

* * *

Blake was picking herself up in time to see the dark knight disappear above them.

"Lemme guess," Ruby said while she remained lying on her back. "He got away."

"Yes," Blake groaned, fully on her feet now.

"You win this round, creepy-bat-guy. But Team RWBY will have vengeance!" She pointed up to the sky dramatically, and immediately pulled her arm back in pain. "Ow ow ow. Explosions hurt."

"You don't say." Weiss, also on her feet now, said sarcastically as she brushed herself off.

"Hey guys," they heard from Yang. They all looked up to see her body trapped in a slowly melting hunk of ice. "Sorry I couldn't stop him. Guess I got cold feet."

Her teammates gave her blank expressions for a solid three seconds, and then completely ignored her. Ruby diverted her gaze back to the sky and Blake and Weiss both sat back down on the ground.

"Seriously though, guys," The blonde-on-ice said, all jokes aside, "could you help me out here? I'm freezing."

"No," Weiss answered.

"Not until you're sorry for what you did," Ruby added.

"Come on, guys. Don't be so cold-hearted."

"So Weiss," Blake inquired of her teammate, "tell me about the first time you discovered your semblance."

"Guys, I'm starting to lose feeling in my toes."

"Well that's a long story," Weiss warned them.

"I'm gonna get hypothermia if you don't help me."

"Oh I'm sure we've got time to hear it," Blake told her.

"I could get frostbite if you're not quick."

"Well it was about nine years ago..." the heiress started her tale.

* * *

Professor Ozpin took one last look out over his campus for the night. It was a Friday, so many of his students were undoubtedly out and about in the city this evening. Tomorrow morning would start a lot slower and a lot later than most days of the week. With no classes, there will be an abundance of late sleepers.

_Well, I can't afford to be one of them_ , the headmaster thought as he turned from the window and back to his desk.  _I will still have an academy to run in the morning_. He shut off the lights in his office, grabbed his cane and coffee mug, and proceeded to the elevator. He stepped in and pressed the ground floor button. The doors closed and the elevator began to move.

It went down a few floors and suddenly halted.  _Must be another of my staff retiring for the night_. Ozpin waited for the doors to open to let someone on, but it never did. He impatiently tapped his cane on the ground three times as if encouraging the elevator to move. "Reminder to self: have elevator checked and fixed."

He reached over to a panel on the wall and unlocked the door lock override switch with his Scroll. The panel scanned his Scroll, waited a moment, and flashed a red light.

"What?" He tried it again and again got the red refusal light. "What is-"

"You've gotta be patient, Ozzy," he heard an unfamiliar voice say from over the intercom system in the elevator. "Stop trying to take control so much. Just let go."

_That's not one of my staff. I'd recognize his voice._ "Who are you? How did you gain access to the elevator systems?"

"So many questions. So little time. And quite frankly, I don't think you have the time to hear the answers."

"And why is that?"

"Oh you'll see. Hee hee hee."

As the laughing continued, plumes of green gas began to seep through the crack in the elevator's doors. Ozpin reached to pull his scarf over his nose and mouth in a futile attempt to protect himself from inhaling it, but he was too late. In the time it took to do that, enough gas had already entered his system to make his muscles relax and his vision fade. His knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor. All while this happened, all he could hear was his attacker singing.

"I could while away the hours,

While you're busy pushin' flowers,

And I'm laughin' in the rain."

The last thing Professor Ozpin saw before losing consciousness was the doors opening to reveal a man in a janitor's uniform with bleach white skin and bright green hair. He was shutting off a modified fog machine and walked over to finish his song with a huge smile on his face.

"I could kill and be merry,

Your death'll be legendary,

If I only had a brain.  _HAHAHAHA!_ "


	3. Chapter 3

Late Friday Night

The trip back to Beacon was rather uncomfortably quiet for Team RWBY; particularly for Blake. She was sat across from her teammates on an airship. They had all chosen to sit opposite of her. Yang sat with her arms crossed and a look on her face that said,  _What was the one thing I told you? Ruby doesn't find out!_  Weiss's expression was shockingly less disapproving than what Blake expected from her, given the situation. And Ruby was just awkwardly waiting for someone to make a move.

Yang was mostly dry after her thawing out from continually activating her semblance and using it to spread warmth through her body. Her teammates did eventually help her out of her "icy situation" after she'd thoroughly apologized for stooping to the level of ice puns. She was still shivering a bit, but it was nothing a fresh change of clothes and wrapping herself in a blanket couldn't fix.

From there, they skipped dinner and headed straight for the airship station. And that led them to their current situation. The airship was next to empty, too. The only real sound was the low music playing over the intercom speakers and the snores of another lone passenger napping in the corner. That only made the quietness even more awkward.

Weiss decided to be the one to break the silence. "You two weren't just out for a night on the town, were you?"

Blake sighed, having no alibi. "No, we weren't." She could've sworn Yang's eyes went red for a second.

"This is why you've been out late most nights recently, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"You've been spending your nights in Vale fighting street crime. That's why you two rushed to the sound of the two guys that cornered us. And that's why you ran off to stop that… whoever he was, isn't it?"

Blake looked to Yang. Her face said,  _No. You deal with it_.

"Weiss, I can explain. It's just, seeing Slade again… it reminded me of all the bad things I've done in my life. And I just wanted to try and do some good-"

"Blake," Weiss interrupted her, "you don't have to explain yourself. I understand. You see a lot of bad and want to do some good. I understood when you did this with Torchwick and the White Fang. But, from what I can tell, you don't seem like you're letting it consume you like it did then. When I noticed you were making a habit of being out late at night, I started paying attention. And your grades hadn't dipped. You were still eating, sleeping and socializing." All of her teammates gave her smirky looks. "Okay, socializing as much as you usually do. You were sleeping later than usual, but, other than that, you were still functioning like normal. You weren't destroying yourself. So I don't really have any place to judge you for this."

Blake and Yang both shared looks of shock. They had both prepared for a classic Ice Queen scolding. There expectations fell utterly short.

Then Weiss's expression changed to one they were more familiar with. "What I will judge you for is your decision to embark on these nightly escapades while keeping your team in the dark!"

"There's the Weiss I know," Yang spoke up.

The heiress turned on her. "You are just as much in the wrong for this as she is, Xiao Long!"

Ruby finally spoke out in agreement with her partner. "Yeah, sis! You and her were going out kicking butt and chewing bubblegum every night and didn't tell us? What gives?"

With all eyes suddenly on her, Yang tried to defend herself. "Okay, first of all, 'kicking butt and chewing bubblegum?' Where did you hear that? Second of all, I didn't know about this until earlier this week. She talked me into going out with her. Tonight was a trial run. And last of all, I didn't want you finding out about it, Ruby, because I knew that you'd wanna get involved and do it, too."

"Duh!" Ruby didn't even try to deny it. "Of course I would. That still doesn't mean you have to leave me out."

"Ruby," Blake tried backing her partner up, "Yang was only trying to look after you. There're some messed up people out there on the streets. I know. Your sister just didn't want you being exposed to that kind of stuff at your age."

"Which leads me to my gripe with you, Blake," Yang turned on her. "I asked you to do one thing: don't let Ruby find out. And you blew it!"

"I'm sorry, Yang. But I heard that boy being attacked and… I couldn't just do nothing and let it happen. I had to do something."

Yang fumed for a bit. "Damnit, Blake! Stop making sense when I'm trying to be mad at you!"

Ruby saw her chance and changed the subject to the thing she still had on her mind. "Speaking of messed up stuff on the streets, whaddaya guys think was up with the bat-guy?"

"I don't know," Blake answered. "I won't pretend I'm an expert on street crime, but I've never seen anything like that before."

"I have," Weiss chimed in. Instantly, all eyes were on her. "I don't know about Vale, but Atlas is full of unorthodox criminals. And one of the strangest is some lunatic vigilante who goes by the name Batman."

"Do you think that could've been him?" Blake asked.

"I don't know. To be honest, I'm not certain if Batman's even real. And even if he is, he's usually known for fighting Atlesian mob bosses and psychopaths. I don't know why he would be mugging some kid in Vale.

"I don't know anything about any Batmen," Yang declared. "But what I do know is that I've reached my crazy limit for the night. Right now, I just wanna get back to Beacon so I can put on some warm pajamas, bundle up in my bed, and go the hell to sleep. We can talk about Blake's nightly habits and guys dressed like Bats in the morning."

As soon as Yang finished, the team felt the airship slow to a halt on the cliff in front of the academy. Yang jumped up from her seat and made for the exit, her teammates getting up to follow her.

As they got off the airship, Ruby leaned in close to Blake and whispered, "By the way, as team leader, I forbid you from going fight bad guys at night and not bringing me."

Blake rolled her eyes and followed their blonde teammate to their dorm.

* * *

Professor Goodwitch stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to bring her to her office.  _I can't believe I actually forgot my Scroll_. She was waiting to reach the correct floor when she noticed the soft music playing.  _Pop Goes the Weasel?_

Glynda looked to the source of the sound. On the floor in the back corner of the elevator was a small, colorful box with a crank slowly winding down.  _A Jack-in-the-box?_

She instinctively drew her wand and readied herself for possible danger. It may seem like an irrational precaution to an outside observer, but a Huntress can never be too careful. The flashbacks to the scary movies she'd seen in her youth didn't help her nerves either. As the toy continued to wind down and the music came to its end, Glynda waited for the inevitable jump-scare. The music stopped… and nothing happened.

Her expression changed from that of preparation to confusion. Just as she started to think the toy to be a dud, the lid sprang open and a small clown doll sprung out. Despite her Huntress training, the sudden shock was still enough to make Glynda yelp in fear. Upon confirming its harmlessness, she couldn't help but laugh a little at herself.

Her laughter came to a halt when she noticed something concerning.  _The glasses on the doll's face… They look exactly like Professor Ozpin's._

* * *

Saturday Morning

Blake was the first to get up the next morning. Her teammates were still sleeping off the events of the evening before. They weren't used to the nighttime vigilante's life. She had been doing this for a few weeks now. That and her time with the White Fang got her used to nights with little sleep and lots of action. She'd adapted to that lifestyle and now had trouble breaking that sleep schedule.

She decided to use her time alone before everyone else on campus started to rise to get up and shower. She gathered her toiletries and a fresh change of clothes and made her way to the bathroom down the hall. She walked in to find that she was indeed the only person up at this hour on a Saturday morning. She used this opportunity to undress and do a little inspection in the mirror.

_The bruise on my forehead from that purse snatcher is already almost gone. And the cut on my thigh from that B &E last week is healing up. I still can't believe I didn't notice the glass left in that window sill. But now I've got some new injuries from last night to worry about. The weights on that bola hurt more than I thought they would have. And it's going to take a little bit for these burns from last night to go away. The bruises from the bola are on my stomach and back, so they should be easy to just cover up. But the burns are more spread out. I can wear long sleeves to cover up the ones on my body and arms. Hopefully no one pays attention to my hands. If someone notices and asks… experiment with Dust that went wrong. Trying to perfect new kinds of ammo for Gambol Shroud. People should buy that. Luckily, they're not too bad. Very light 2nd degree at most._ She touched one of the burns on her forearm.  _Ow. Still bad enough to hurt._  She looked into the mirror and twitched her cat ears.  _Luckily, I'm really good at keeping things secret._

Blake did one final look over of her body for any more wounds she didn't notice the first time before going into a stall and starting her shower. She turned on the warm water and winced slightly as it ran over her burns.  _Maybe I'll take a colder shower today._  She adjusted the temperature to fit her comfort and ducked her head under the showerhead to wet her hair. As she began her shower routine, her mind began to dive into thought.

This is normally the point when Blake would roll over the events of the previous night in her mind and think about how much good she'd done in one evening. But today, despite the work her and Yang had done last night, including taking down the leader of the Red Face gang, all of her thoughts went to one subject.

_Who was that man dressed like a bat? His arsenal and skill were way higher than anything I've ever seen on the streets. He seemed enough to rival Slade. And if I learned anything from Slade, it's that that kind of skill and weaponry requires money. And his tools were laced with different kinds of Dust. Not only is that not cheap, but it's not exactly the easiest project in the world. This guy had time to infuse and perfect the Dust with his tools. I know firsthand that there are people with that kind of time and money. But what would someone like that be doing mugging some boy in an alley somewhere? And what was he talking about when he said 'If you knew who he is or what you're in the middle of…'?_

Blake finished rinsing herself off, shut off the water, and reached for her towel. She dried herself off and changed into her fresh clothes. She wrapped the towel around her head to both dry her hair and keep her Faunus ears hidden.

_Whatever was going on last night with that boy and the man in the suit, I'm thinking that it's something a lot bigger than just some random mugging. I'll talk to my team about it._

With that she left the bathroom and headed back to her dorm.

* * *

Blake stepped into her room to find all of her teammates awake now and huddled around the window with concerned looks on their faces.

"What's up?" she asked.

Yang answered with a question, "Have you looked outside this morning?"

"No." Blake stepped over to the window to see what everyone was looking at. She looked outside to see a legion of airships, some in the air, some on the ground. Guards, police, AK-200s, and huntsmen were everywhere. None of them wore happy expressions.

"So," Ruby said, "what do you guys think happened last night?"

* * *

Qrow stormed past squads of Atlesian Knights as he made his way to the scene of the crime. He found the people he was looking for, Glynda Goodwitch and James Ironwood. They were both speaking to a forensic analyst when they noticed Branwen marching over.

"Qrow," Glynda greeted him, "I'm glad you came on such short-"

"What the hell happened?" he cut straight to the point.

"There was an… incident last night," Ironwood explained.

"An  _incident_? The damn headmaster of a Huntsmen academy was heisted off in the middle of the night, right out from under everyone's noses. I think  _incident_  is a bit of an understatement!"

The two paused for a moment to take in Qrow's anger. "Yes," the general continued, "it seems someone was able to infiltrate Beacon, incapacitate Ozpin, and exfiltrate with him. All while remaining unseen."

"Yeah. I managed to figure that out. I'm not asking for the short, summary version. Give me details. Do we know anything about his abductor? You got any possible suspects? How'd he get him? How'd he sneak in and out without being noticed? Do we even know if Ozpin is still alive or not?"

Ironwood looked to Glynda before answering. "We're not certain on anything right now, but we do have a few pieces of evidence. The surveillance systems blacked out from 10:23 to 10:58 last night. We can only assume the abduction took place then."

"Thirty-five minutes in and out. Works fast. And he was able to hack into the systems. That's impressive."

"Whoever the perpetrator is," Glynda continued to explain, "he left a clue to Ozpin's capture on the main elevator that leads to his office. It was a children's toy. A Jack-in-the-Box. But it had Ozpin's glasses on it."

Ironwood took over. "We scanned the elevator. There were traces of some kind of vapor in the air. I have my men testing it to figure out its exact composition now."

"So we're dealing with someone who can screw up your systems, get past your guards, and take someone down with some sort of gas attack. But he left behind a clue to Ozpin's disappearance. He's egotistical, too. Great." He took out his flask and took a swig. "What do the students know?"

"Nothing," Glynda answered. "At least we haven't informed any of them."

"Well I recommend you do so as soon as possible."

"That shouldn't be necessary," Ironwood cut in.

Qrow's eyes narrowed and stepped right into the general's personal space, fronting on him. "Look around you, Jimmy. What do you see? Cause I see a metric shit-ton of panicked guards and your men all over the place. You blew your chance for subtly the moment you and your army showed up." He backed off. "Now, ask yourselves: Would you rather let everyone know what's goin' on, or just leave them in the dark and let them assume the worst? Cause I can guarantee that they're all trying to figure out why all the adults look like the world just ended."

* * *

Team RWBY took significantly less time on their morning routines today. Quick showers and clothes thrown on was all they had time for. As soon as everyone was set, they left their dorm hall to try and figure out what's going on.

"While you were all getting ready, I went and asked JNPR and CFVY if they know what's happening," Blake reported to her team. "None of them know anything."

"The professors are bound to know," Weiss theorized. "We should find one of them first."

The courtyard was near chaos. The team searched for anyone who could tell them something about what was going on, but everyone they found either didn't know or refused to say.

"We're getting nowhere," Weiss stated the obvious.

As Yang scanned the area for anyone who might be able and willing to share any information, she noticed a familiar figure pacing away from the main tower. "Look," she pointed him out to her teammates. "Isn't that-"

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby was already halfway to him.

Qrow turned to see his youngest niece running up to him. "Hey, kiddo." He said before she leaped up to hug him.

"What're you doing here?" his oldest niece asked him as she and the rest of her team caught up to their leader.

He gestured to the madness around them. "I'm here cause o' all this."

Ruby released her uncle and backed up to look him face to face. "So you know what's going on?"

Qrow sighed. "Yeah. Yeah I do. Your headmaster's missing."

The team of huntresses paused to take in what they'd just heard.

"Ow!" Weiss shouted as she pulled her arm to her chest. "Ruby! Did you just pinch me?"

"I was making sure I wasn't in a bad dream."

"Ruby," her sister chimed in, "that's not how that-"

Blake interrupted her teammates to ask Qrow, "What do you mean he's missing?"

"Sometime last night. Ozpin was on his way out of the tower for the night, but never actually made it out the front door."

"What happened?"

"We're not sure about all the details, but we're almost certain someone took him."

"Someone broke into Beacon?" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"From what I understand, your Deathstroke friend was able to do it. Apparently someone else was, too." He noticed the girls staring at him with even more shock on their faces. "You didn't… Wow. They really don't tell you anything, do they?"

"Apparently not," the heiress agreed.

"Do you have any idea who did it?" Blake asked him.

"Nah. We're tryin'. But no."

* * *

"General Ironwood."

The general turned to the Atlesian soldier that had called him. "What is it?"

"We've identified the chemical makeup of the residue left behind on the elevator."

"Show me."

The soldier led Ironwood into the ship most of the investigation was being held in and directed him to a monitor with a list of elements. He looked over the listing. "I recognize this."

"From what we can tell, it's a kind of fast-acting anesthetic. But we found something strange. It's a relatively simple compound, but there's one element involved that is completely inert: Element 105; Hahnium."

Ironwood rolled everything around in his head.  _Use of anesthetic gas. This chemical formula. The Jack-in-the-Box… No. It couldn't be._ "Soldier, show me the chemical abbreviation of Hahnium," he ordered.

The soldier tapped the screen a few times and brought up the element's symbol: Ha.

Ironwood connected all of the dots.  _No. Not him._

At that moment all of the screens on the ship suddenly switched to a feed of a pale faced man in front of a red curtain.

* * *

Cinder Fall and her two lackies were in their room checking in with their men across the kingdom when their Scrolls all suddenly switched to a man dressed in purple talking to someone offscreen. "Are we live?"

* * *

"I'll do what I can, but I gotta work through all o' this nonsense-" Qrow was interrupted when his Scroll went off in his pocket.

As he was pulling it out, all of RWBY's Scrolls went off as well. They opened them to see a man with green hair and a huge, bright red grin on his face. "Harley, we went over this! We were going on three and  _then_  go."

"What is this?" Weiss said what everyone was thinking.

"But, Mistah J," a high pitched voice came from offscreen, "it's always faster to go on three."

Qrow looked around and saw everyone around them with their Scrolls out watching the exact same footage. "It's going out to everyone."

"Ah forget it!" the man on screen shouted before recomposing himself. "Hello, Vale. For those of you who don't know me… Harley!"

Answering his call, a girl with a painted white face dressed in black and red leaped on screen. "I, Harley Quinn, hereby present to you the Mastah o' Laughtah; the Jestah o' Genocide; the Clown Prince o' Crime; my Puddin', Joker!"

Joker stepped forward and pushed Harley back offscreen. "Thank you, my dear. Now get back to manning the camera. Yes, Vale, the Joker's relocated. I've had my fun in Atlas and decided it's time for a change of scenery. And now I'm here and ready to plant my roots. And I have a proposition for you. More specifically, one for the law enforcers  _and_  the law breakers of this city."

"Look," Qrow told the team. "He's holding Ozpin's cane."

He pulled a remote control from his pocket and clicked a button, causing the curtain behind him to open, revealing two men gagged and tied down to chairs. One had orange hair and a white coat.

"I have here, the recently-escaped-from-prison master thief, Roman Torchwick and-"

The other hostage had grey hair and a green suit.

"-the headmaster of Beacon Huntsman Academy, Professor Ozpin! Now I didn't come to Vale alone. I was followed here. Followed by someone who just couldn't stand to be without me."

"Whaddaya talkin' about, Puddin'? I'm right here."

"Shut up, Harley! I'm talking about Batman!" When he said that, an image of the dark knight appeared on the screen next to him. "Yes. Batman. He's been giving me a hard time for years. He's the reason I left Atlas. I came here to escape him. But he just won't let me go. So, here's my proposition. There are people in this kingdom who would like to have at least one of these two back unharmed. You know who you are. So I have one request: Batman. Dead or alive. I want him brought to me. Whoever brings him to me gets to decide which one of these two esteemed gentlemen doesn't take a dirt nap. Whenever one of you has him, I want video confirmation sent to this email address." On the screen appeared the address  _MrJ:D_. "You will receive further instructions then. And please, don't fill my inbox with spam. We wouldn't want me to have to start hunting people down and turning them into spam now would we?"

The team of huntresses looked to Qrow to find him gone. He was already halfway to Ironwood's ship to confront the general.

"That is my request to you, Vale. I will also urge you to get moving on this as I can't guarantee exactly how long either of these two will last before keeling over on their own. Now, Harley, I think it's time we signed off." With that, he pulled a gun from inside his coat, aimed it at the camera, and the feed cut out.

* * *

"Sir." One of Ironwood's men reported. "The signal's gone. We couldn't pinpoint a location in time."

"Damnit!" The general pounded the wall of his ship in anger. He then heard a disturbance behind him and turned to see Qrow pushing his way past another of his men and advancing towards him. "Qrow, I didn't-"

Before he could finish, Qrow punched him across the face, grabbed him by the collar, and held him up against the wall. His men drew their weapons and took aim on the drunken huntsman before Ironwood ordered them, "Stand down."

"You knew, didn't you?" Qrow interrogated him. "You knew he was the one who took Ozpin!"

"I didn't."

"Bullshit! He's from Atlas. That's your part of the world. You telling me you don't know what's going on in your own kingdom anymore?"

"I know who he is. I know of the things he's done. But I didn't know this was his doing. He's been in Atlas's top prison for over two years now."

"Apparently not anymore. You really weren't aware he broke out?"

"For God's sake, Qrow! I'm a military general! I don't know everything about all that happens in Atlas. I know what I'm told and I wasn't told he broke out. When I saw the evidence, I had suspicions. But he's inspired copycats ever since he first appeared. I didn't think it could possibly be him."

"And what about this Batman. Whaddaya know about him?"

"Not much. Nobody does. All I know is he's an Atlesian vigilante with a gimmick and a lot of skills. He's never done any wrong in Atlas other than doing the police's work for them better than them. His effectiveness outweighed his offenses so we've left him alone."

"How do I find either of them?"

* * *

After the feed cut from their Scrolls, Emerald and Mercury both turned to their boss.

"So what do we do now?" Mercury asked.

"I say screw him," Emerald voiced her opinion. "At this point, Torchwick's more trouble than he's worth."

"Really? With as much money and effort as we put into breaking him out of prison, we just leave him to be killed off by some psycho clown? I mean, I don't like the guy anymore than you do, but that just seems like a waste of a huge investment." He turned to Cinder. "Whaddaya think, Boss?"

She remained silent.

"Cinder?" Emerald prodded.

For the first time in a long time, Cinder was at a loss.  _This is… unexpected._

* * *

Team RWBY was still in a collective state of shock.

"So now's the question," Weiss spoke up. "Do we leave this one to the adults? Or do we attempt to go after Ozpin ourselves?" The three looks she received gave her all the answer she needed. "That was more of a rhetorical question, I suppose."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last completed chapter I have as of posting. I have most of chapter 4, but not quite enough to post. I have no ETA. What I do have is a oneshot companion piece similar to RWBY: Jailbreak for any interested. It should be up shortly.
> 
> I'd still love for any criticism. The more detailed and constrcutive, the better.


	4. Chapter 4

Saturday Night

* * *

"These streets belong to us now!" the leader of Vale's White Knife gang shouted, rallying his men.

"Mike!" his second in command reported to him. "The Red Faces are coming out to meet us.

Mike drew his signature weapons, two kukris with bleach-white blades. "Tear them apart." He led the charge against the opposing gang.

* * *

Blake looked down on the gang war from a rooftop above.  _Animals,_  she thought as she watched the violence.  _There are bigger enemies out there like the White Fang and the Grimm, and they're still too busy fighting each other over a few blocks of territory._

"I just hung up with Junior," Yang said as she walked up to her partner's side. "I told him Ruby's coming to get information and exactly what will happen should anyone lay a finger on her."

"Do you think he'll risk it?" Blake asked her.

"After the work I did the first time I showed up at his club? He's not  _that_  stupid. Heard from Weiss?"

"Yes. She messaged me saying that she got copies of all the files on Batman and the Joker the Schnee Dust Company could provide. She's says it's a lot to sort through."

"Sounds like these two have a  _long_  history together."

"Yeah. She also said that she's going to go ahead and meet Ruby at Junior's. So you won't have to worry about her as much," the Faunus girl assured her partner

"I'm still ready to head over and lay some smackdown if I have to." The blonde brawler accentuated her remark by punching her fist into her palm.

"You know, Yang. You could've gone with your sister. I can do this myself."

"Come on, Blake. Ruby's going to get information from a club that's too afraid of me to make a move on her. You're going out on the gang-ridden streets. One of these holds a bit more danger than the other."

Blake gave a half smile. "I guess you have a point."

"And since I mentioned us being on the gang-ridden streets," Yang got to the question that had been plaguing her for the last several minutes, "what exactly are we doing out here? You said we were gonna get information. How is watching a bunch of dirtbags trying to kill each other gonna tell us anything about a vigilante and a psychopath from Atlas?"

"Not much. But that's not why we're out here," Blake answered. "If this Batman is truly a vigilante, he won't be able to just stand by and let two gangs with no amount of concern for collateral damage just go at each other."

Yang guessed the next step. "And when he gets here, we take him down and contact this Joker guy saying we got him?" There was a touch of concern in her voice.  _I wouldn't mark her to be the type to give in to demands like that_.

"No," Blake assured her. "I just want to talk to him."

"I'm listening," they heard from a gravelly voice behind them.

Yang acted in an instant. She turned around and threw a punch… a punch that landed directly into the dark knight's waiting palm. In the moment she took to be surprised, he reached up with his other hand and tapped her gauntlet's locking mechanism near her palm. With the lock disengaged, Ember Celica opened up and ejected all of its unspent shells.

"I'm not here to fight you," Batman growled at her and let go of her fist. He looked to Blake. "You were clever to wait for me to show up here. But if you want to talk, you'll have to wait until after I'm done with these punks." He walked past them to the building's edge.

"Wait," Blake stopped him. "We can help you."

"No," he responded. "I don't need to fight them  _and_  worry about you two."

"We're huntresses," the Faunus continued to argue with him. "This is the kind of work we're trained to do."

"Yeah," Yang chipped in. "Besides, you saw how well we can handle ourselves last night, remember?"

Batman paused for a moment, pondering the consequences. "Don't make yourselves liabilities." He then leaped off the edge of the building to meet the criminals down below.

Blake looked to her partner, who was just finishing reloading her emptied gauntlet.

"Y'know," Yang said, "he's kind of a dick. But at least we're getting to see some action tonight." With that she followed the dark knight down, Blake close behind her.

* * *

The Bat was an unrelenting force in combat. His hits were brutal, but methodically non lethal. His presence was terrifying. For every thug he beat down, another fled in fear. Those who were brave enough to stay and fight were punished for their decision with bloodied teeth and broken bones. His opponents suffered all of this, while he remained untouched.

Blake couldn't help but admire his skill. Deathstroke had been the greatest warrior she had ever met. Batman was his equal at the very least.  _All of his skill, but used for a noble cause._

Blake was snapped out of her admiration by a White Knife thug charging her with his dagger raised. She raised Gambol Shroud and blocked his attack just as Yang ran up and blasted him to the ground.

"You doin' alright?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah," Blake answered as she kicked the downed thug in the head, knocking him out. "How about you?"

"Yeah," Yang said as she blasted her gauntlet at a retreating gangster. "Getting kinda bored though. He's hogging all of the action." She gestured over to Batman. "Gotta admit, though. He's doing some serious work."

"Yeah he is." Blake collapsed her weapon to Kama form and threw it at an approaching enemy, hitting him in the face, and pulled it back to her. "Maybe I should ask him if he'd like to be my new crime fighting partner."

Yang laughed, "You're so mean."

She turned back to face an approaching Red Face. Before he could reach her, though, a mechanical claw on the end of a cable latched onto the back of his jacket and he was pulled backwards off his feet. He flew right into Batman's waiting hand. He grabbed the thug by the back of his neck, lifted him into the air and slammed him to the ground, thoroughly breaking his nose and rendering him unconscious.

"That's the last of them," the dark knight informed the two huntresses as he reholstered his grapnel gun. The girls looked around them to see that all of their opponents had indeed either fled or been incapacitated.

"Hold up," Yang said as she spotted movement. "We've got one still up."

Batman looked to follow her eyes and stalked towards the gangster trying to slink away. He was crawling on his belly, hoping to be able to escape unnoticed. His hopes were dashed when the Bat grabbed him by his ankle and dragged him back to the center of the street. Once there, he flipped the thug over, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. He was a small one, and with Batman's towering height over him, his feet were almost two feet off the ground.

Batman gave him a menacing glare. "Cowl, scan for ID." He paused a moment while the technology in his cowl communicated with the supercomputer in the Batcave. After a few seconds, he had an ID. "Dylon Saramago. Member of the Red Face gang. Where's your leader?"

Dylon didn't plan on resisting after the display he just saw. "Andy? N-no problem. He got taken in by the cops just last night. Small time robbery gone wrong."

Yang raised her hand up to fist bump her partner. Blake slapped her hand back down.

"With him gone, who's in charge now?" The dark knight questioned.

"I was kinda Andy's go-to guy. So I-I guess that'd be me," Dylon answered.

"So you should be informed about what goes on in Vale's underworld, shouldn't you?"

"I know some things."

"Tell me everything you know about the Joker." The vigilante held the street thug inches from his scowl. "And don't make me ask twice."

"The clown who wants you dead? I know a little. Been in Vale less than a week and he's already a top power player. He contacted the Red Faces, offerin' openings in his gang. I hear he did the same thing with the Knives. Invited everyone for a big get together to join up with him. Andy wasn't gonna do it. But with him gone, I dunno."

"When is this happening?" Batman growled. "Where?"

"Tomorrow night. Some old club in the industrial district. South of the river. I think it's called  _The Wall_  or somethin'."

"Thank you. You've been very cooperative," Batman said to him before punching him in the face, knocking him out cold. He dropped the thug and let him fall to the ground. He reached to the earpiece in his cowl and spoke, "Cave, I need the coordinates of a club in the industrial district of Vale called  _The Wall_. And send an anonymous tip to Vale's police department with my current location. I left some garbage for them to pick up." He stood still for a moment, listening to whoever he was communicating with, before turning back to the girls. "I have my lead. If you still need to speak with me, meet me on the rooftop."

"Wait. What?" Blake asked confusedly. But before she could get any clarification, the Bat was already being pulled up to the rooftops by his grapnel gun. The Faunus girl groaned in aggravation.

"Well that was helpful," Yang remarked. "You sure we need to talk to this guy? Cause I'm starting to consider taking this Joker-guy's offer."

"Yang, he's our best chance of rescuing Professor Ozpin. And need I remind you of how fighting him last night went?"

Yang thought back to being in a block of ice. "Good point. So let's get up there, I guess. Again."

* * *

The two Huntresses made their way back up the building they were waiting on just a few minutes earlier. The dark knight was waiting for them at the edge.

"You two took three minutes getting back up here," he said in a rather disapproving manner.

"Well sorry," Yang snarked back. "We don't exactly have a bunch of fancy gadgets to help us get up here in six seconds flat."

"I didn't either when I started out. And I wouldn't have dared go out and do this had it taken me that long to disappear."

Before her partner could come up with another smartass remark, Blake tried to move the conversation back to what she needed of the crime fighter. "We're out here because we need your help. My name is-"

"Blake Belladonna," he finished for her. "And Yang Xiao Long. First year students at Beacon Academy. I know. I ID'd you last night. And I used the time you took to get back up here to read over your files. I know who you are." His scowl lingered on Blake as he said that. "And I assume you're here because of your headmaster, Professor Ozpin."

"Yes. He was captured by the Joker."

"I know. And I'd be concerned that you were here to pay his ransom had I not heard you say to the contrary earlier. So tell me, why are you out here looking for me?"

"We're out here following any leads we can on how to rescue our headmaster. And since it seems you and this Joker guy are… familiar with each other-"

"You want my help in tracking him down," he finished for her again.

Blake paused awkwardly. "Well, yes."

"I'll admit that that's an admirable, and for Huntresses, responsible thing to do. But trust me when I say this: back away from this. Huntresses are trained to take on some of the toughest of foes. But nothing can prepare you for him."

"I've dealt with psychopaths before," Blake declared confidently.

The dark knight simply glared. "No you haven't. Mr. Taurus may be beyond radical in his actions, but he still has a purpose and cause behind those actions. And every action Slade Wilson takes is for money."

Blake was stunned at Batman's knowledge of the people in her life she'd kept secret to most. Most people she knew didn't even know about her role in the White Fang. This complete stranger suddenly made her feel very small.

"Both of those men have reasons why they do things. But Joker is pure anarchic evil. He can't be reasoned with and should never be underestimated." He paused and looked out on the city. "I've made that mistake and paid its price too many times already."

"So what are we supposed to do then?" Yang asked.

"Go home," the dark knight answered bluntly as he walked to the buildings edge. "Return to your training and studies. I'll return your headmaster." He reached the edge and stopped. "Stay out of this. Don't let me catch you out here again." As he finished, he leaped off the rooftop, extended his cape, and glided off.

The two Huntresses watched him go before Yang released a heavy sigh and spoke up. "I guess we should get back off this roof and go meet up with Ruby and Weiss. You know, I'm getting really tired of climbing up and down this building tonight."

* * *

By midnight, Team RWBY was back in their dorm. They had all brought back findings from their various trips to gather information.

Weiss shared first. "According to the Atlesian records I found, these Batman and Joker characters were at each other's throats for over a decade. Batman has been fighting crime alongside the Atlas police since I was a child. Apparently, he's the actual reason why some of my father's less dignified business associates don't come around anymore. This Batman had them arrested for money laundering, drug smuggling, and apparently covering up the deaths of working class Faunus."

Blake was visibly appalled by that last one. "You didn't know about this?"

The Schnee heiress sighed. "It looks like my father was better at hiding things from me than I thought. I guess I'll give him credit that he cut ties with those associates when they got caught, as little as that says."

"What about the Joker?" Yang asked.

Weiss paused a moment. "What I found about him was… horrifying; a list of atrocities committed that seemed to have no end. He's killed thousands of people. He's a bigger threat than the White Fang." She stopped again. "I finally know what actually happened to several of my father's board members."

There was a moment of silence before Ruby asked the big question. "If he's this bad, why haven't any of us heard of him?"

"He's been in prison for four years," Weiss answered. "You were eleven the last time he was active. The rest of us were thirteen."

"Not to mention Weiss was sheltered from this by her father," Blake added. "I was caught up with the White Fang and you and Yang were on Patch. Patch tends to keep to themselves more. We were all out of the loop or too distracted with our own issues."

"Did you find anything about who these guys actually are?" Yang asked.

Weiss shook her head. "That may be the strangest part. These two have been around for fifteen years and nothing is known about who they are; no name or explanation. They just showed up one day out of the blue."

There was another moment of silence. Weiss was clearly disturbed by her discoveries today, her stare a thousand miles away.

Blake lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry you had to learn all of this."

Ruby walked over to her teammate and gave her a warm hug. "If you want I can share now."

Weiss came back to the present and wiggled out of the hug. "I'm okay. It's part of the job. Yes, Ruby. What did you find?"

Ruby backed off and cleared her throat before reporting. "I went to Junior's club to ask about the Joker in Vale. And, by the way, you guys totally should have seen the look on the doorman's face when I walked up. He was all like 'I'm sorry, little girl, but you're a little young to be here.' But when I dropped Yang's name, his eyes got all big and he said-"

"Ruby!" Weiss snapped. "Focus!"

Ruby's cheeks turned red and she clammed up. "Sorry. Haha. Anyway, Junior said he hadn't seen or heard from the Joker himself, but he did get approached by a new client named Jack White who wanted to rent out the whole club tomorrow night. But he said he never met the guy in person."

"Did he sell?" Weiss asked.

"No," Blake answered instead.

Ruby looked to her quizzically. "How did you know that?"

Yang stepped in. "Because Blake and I found out which club he did rent for his gang recruitment party."

"How did you find that out?" Weiss inquired.

"We met the Batman," Blake declared to the shocked Ruby and Weiss.

* * *

Cinder was using her Scroll to go through records of the White Fang's losses and their impact on her plans, when there was a knock at the door. Emerald drew one of her guns as she approached the door to check who it was.

She did her best to disguise her voice, channel her best Ruby Rose, and called, "Who is it?"

She heard a sigh and the familiar voice of Mercury from the other side. "It's me. Let me in." Emerald rolled her eyes and opened the door. Mercury stepped inside. "Someone needs acting lessons. That was one of the worst impressions I've ever heard."

"Oh haha. You're so funny," the dark skinned girl snarked back as she holstered her weapon.

Cinder looked up from her Scroll. "What have you discovered from the streets?" she asked.

"From what I can tell, this Joker guy is making quite the power play in Vale's underworld," the kick boxer reported. "He's looking to take over the local gangs to solidify his presence. Heard he's sent out invitations for a meetup to give them a chance to join him willingly before he forces them to."

"How'd you learn that?" Emerald questioned him.

"It's amazing what a gangster will tell you when you buy him a couple drinks."

"Do you know when and where this meetup will take place?" his boss asked him.

"Tomorrow night at some old club in the industrial district called  _The Wall_."

"Then that's where I want you to be tomorrow evening," Cinder ordered.

"Want me to crash the party?" Mercury asked, a smile crossing his face.

"No. I want you to slip in undercover as a part of one of the gangs. Get in, find out where Roman is, and report back to me. And do not engage the Joker. I want this done with finesse; not force. We don't want attention brought to us directly yet."

Mercury's smile changed to a look of disappointment. "It won't be as fun, but I should be able to do that."

* * *

_Not again!_  Dylon thought as he crawled through the alley.  _First the Knives, then the Bat, then the cops, now this! If I get outta this, I'm done with this crap!_

"Where do you think you're going?" he heard from behind him before the Huntsman attacking him grabbed him by his collar, lifted him up, and shoved him against a dumpster.

Qrow leaned in close and snarled, "I've been asking around town and nobody's been much help. Do yourself a favor and cooperate." To enunciate his point, he drew his sword and held it's edge inches away from Dylon's face. "Joker. Spill it."

"You too?! How many people want this guy?!"

Qrow paused. "Who else is looking for him?"

"That Bat guy!" Dylon answered. "He kicked the crap outta my guys and did the same thing to me that you're doin' here right now."

"And what did you tell him?"

"I told him what I know! The Joker's holding a meet up with the gangs tomorrow night at  _The Wall_. It's a night club south of the river. That's all I know! I swear!"

"Don't worry," Qrow said as he put his sword away. "That's all I need." He then lifted Dylon over his head and threw him into the dumpster. He closed the lid and turned to leave. He pulled his Scroll from his coat pocket and called General Ironwood. "Jimmy, I've got a lead."

"How did you- nevermind. I don't want to know," the general responded. "What do you have?"

"Clown's holding a welcome party for the other gangs tomorrow night. That's my best bet of getting to him."

"Do you have a location?"

"Wouldn't be much of a lead if I didn't, now would it?"

"Good. I'll get a squad together by tomorrow night."

"Don't bother. I wanna handle this one personally."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished Chapter 4! I was less than a thousand words from posting it. I just couldn't make those words happen. I'll try to do more, but I'm happy to get this chapter out at least.
> 
> And yes, I chocked this thing full with Internet Box Podcast references for the few who catch them. I wrote most of this a lot longer ago when I was relistening to them.
> 
> I crave feedback and I hope you enjoy.

**Author's Note:**

> So I plan to release the next two chapters each Monday. After that... Only time will tell.
> 
> I would love some feedback on this one. I'm not sure if it stacks up to my previous works or not. Comments and reviews for RWBY: Contract helped me alter bits in its later chapters for the better. I'd really appreciate more of that.
> 
> Till next time, thank you.


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